A press statement released by Ursula Von Der Leyen has stated that the EU will look to unblock the internal borders throughout the bloc. However, the EU will close the external borders that the bloc shares without outside countries for the next 30 days. In a somewhat strange move, the agreement is not legally binding with Ms Von Der Leyen saying in a press conference “It’s up to them now to implement”. As reported by UNN’s Oliver Down, the outbreak of the Coronavirus has opened up a number of fresh political tensions between member states.
Ms Von Der Leyen stated that the reasoning behind keeping open the internal borders is to allow for the continued “functioning of the internal market”. This has been met with considerable criticism by some on social media. The Veterans for Britain Twitter page has tweeted out Ms Von Der Leyen’s comments with the caption “Extraordinary: the EU forces countries to REOPEN borders which were closed for disease-prevention. They are obsessed with open borders and make excuses to overrule member states despite dire medical need. Listen”. One Twitter user @patsy_murrell replied to the tweet and said: “EU providing excellent reasons with examples as to why open borders should NOT exist in the first place. Medical staff living in one country and commuting to another country is actually ludicrous! A pandemic now shows this to be true”. The open borders policy is seen by some as an underpinning factor in Europe wide Euroscepticism. These announcements are unlikely to reassure these people.
The BBC has run with the headline “European Union seals borders to outsiders” , Sky News stated, “Coronavirus: Leaders agree to close EU’s external borders in virus battle”. Are these publications deliberately misleading people with their headline and omitting the fact that the external closure is not legally binding, and that the EU has overridden member states on internal border measures. Possibly they are simply unaware of what is going on, UNN will let you the readers make up your mind.
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Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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